Toshiba's thin and light Excite 10 LE tablet lands March 6th

Toshiba's stylish Excite 10 tablet finally has a release date: Tuesday, March 6th.

Toshiba actually unveiled the tablet over a month ago at CES, but it's only now that the company is announcing when the device will be available. Strangely, in the last month, the tablet has transitioned from being called the Excite X10 to going by the Excite LE, though I'm not actually sure what the "LE" stands for. (LEgant? Or perhaps Light Experience?)

Whatever the reason for the switch, the central product han't changed at all. At just 7.7mm thick, the Excite 10 LE is an incredibly thin, incredibly light (535g) device. In keeping with Toshiba's port-focused ambitions, the Excite 10 features Micro-USB, HDMI, Micro SD ports, which is a boon for anyone who is a fan of expandability.

Pricing for the device has remained the same as it was when the it was initially announced. Toshiba will sell two models: a 16GB version for $529 and a 32GB model for $599. We said it a month ago, and we'll say it again here: that's just a bit too much cash, even if the device is lighter than the iPad.

As for Android 4.0, Toshiba plans to upgrade the device from Android 2.3 this Spring.

Update: I asked for some details on what the deal was with the name change and got an interesting response.

"Following the introduction of Excite X10 at CES, Toshiba determined that a more unique and identifiable name needed to be established in order to avoid confusion with other products on the market," Toshiba PR says.

The LE shift, as it happens, is also a precursor to what Toshiba plans to do with the naming of future tablets.  "As we roll out more tablets, the screen size (10 in this case) will come after the brand name, and when applicable, will include a modifier, like LE, to differentiate products with the same screen size."

Oh, and "LE"? Much like the names of Americans, it doesn't mean a thing. "'LE' is just a moniker," Toshiba PR says.